Entrepreneur Extraordinaire · You recognize the power of knowing what to do, as well as how and when to do it in order to be wildly successful. We salute you for wanting more knowledge

EntrepreneurExtraordinaireEntrepreneur

Extraordinaire

Top experts share their secrets to business success

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THRIVE PublishingA Division of PowerDynamics Publishing, Inc.San Francisco, Californiawww.thrivebooks.com

© 2012, THRIVE PublishingAll rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in aretrieval system, or transmitted by any other meanswithout the written permission of the publisher.

ISBN: 978-0-9850828-3-3

Library of Congress Control Number: 2001012345

Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper.

URL DisclaimerAll Internet addresses provided in this book were valid at press time. However, due to the dynamic nature of the Internet, some addresses may have changed or sites may have changed or ceased to exist since publication. While the co-authors and publisher regret any inconvenience this may cause readers, no responsibility for any such changes can be accepted by either the co-authors or the publisher.

We dedicate this book to youthe entrepreneur, business owner, sales professional or consultant, whether you are experienced or are just starting out on your path to entrepreneurship. You recognize the power of knowing what to do, as well as how and when to do it in order to be wildly successful. We salute you for wanting more knowledge designed to advance your business—and we celebrate your commitment to being the best you can be. We are here to give you all we have to make your entrepreneurial venture extraordinary.

The Co-Authors of Entrepreneur Extraordinaire

We dedicate this book to you

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Table of Contents

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Why Ethics in Business Matters! 1By Nilda Perez

Journey to the Future 11Effectively Take Your Company from “Here” to “There”By Cynthia Bruno, Esq.

Selecting Your Best Business Model 21By Karen Terry, CLC

Going Global with Ease and Grace 31Expand Your Business Exponentially and Make It a Big Vacation!By Dakota McKenzie

Intuition—Your Valuable Resource for Immediate Answers 41for Tangible Business Re$ultsBy Susan Rueppel, PhD

Cast Aside Business Building Busters to Ensure Your Success 53By Caterina Rando, MA, MCC

Overcoming Fear to Seize Opportunities 63By LeTonya F. Moore, Esq.

Mind Your Mind 75To Grow Your BusinessBy Brenda Lee Gallatin, MA ABS, CDC, CLC, CDV

Optimal Health for Entrepreneurs 85By Tamara Cameron, HHC, AADP

Find a Need in Your Community, Fill It and Make Money 95By Alexis Williams-Patton

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Brand Appeal 105Your Visual Business CommunicatorBy Alesia Dowden, MBA, BC

Plan Before You Build 117 Things to Consider for New and Existing Websites By Win Day

Relational Marketing 129The Power of Blending Face-to-Face with Online Networking By Kym Glass

Creating Information Products to Expand Your Success 141By Dortha Hise

Set the Stage for Your Speaking Success 153By Elizabeth Bachman

Using Facebook® to Build Your Business 165By April P. Cooper

Using Blogs and Video to Build Your Business 175Get Your Name Out There in a Big Way and Increase Profits!By Robin O’Neal Smith, MEd, ITS

Let’s Get Productive! 187Move from Wasting Time and Being Overwhelmed to Being in ControlBy Rosie Aiello, MBA

I Hate Paperwork! 197If Papers Control Your Life, It is Time to Control Your Papers—and All Those Emails! By Judy Rough, CSA

Quarterbacking Without Touching the Ball 207Build Winning Teams by Transitioning from a Doer to a Leader By Felicia Streeter, MBA

Hiring the Right People 217By Cynthia Fassler

More Entrepreneur Extraordinaire 229

Acknowledgements

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AcknowledgementsGratitude is an important part of business success. Before we share our wisdom and experience with you, we have a few people to thank for turning our vision for this book into a reality.

This book is the brilliant concept of Caterina Rando, the founder of Thrive Publishing™ and a respected business speaker and strategist. Without Caterina’s “take action” spirit, her positive attitude and her commitment to excellence, you would not be reading this book, of which we are all so proud.

Additionally, a truly dedicated team has worked diligently to put together the best possible book for you and supported all of our efforts. We are grateful for everyone’s stellar contribution.

To Patricia Haddock, whose experience in copywriting and copy-editing proved invaluable, and whose magic pen and expertise ensured that this book would be the best it could be.

To Tammy Tribble, Barbara McDonald, Tricia Principe and Noël Voskuil, our designers extraordinaire, who brought their creative talents to the cover and book layout, thank you all for your enthusiasm, problem solving and attention to detail throughout this project.

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To our exceptional proofreaders, Simone Martel, Tony Lloyd and Rua Necaise, thank you for ensuring we dotted all the i’s, crossed all the t’s and placed every comma where it belongs.

We also acknowledge each other for delivering outstanding infor-mation, guidance and advice to you. Through our work in this book and with our clients, we are truly committed to enhancing the success of women entrepreneurs throughout the world. We are truly grateful that we get to do work that we love and contribute to so many in the process. We do not take our good fortune lightly. We are clear in our mission—to make a genuine contribution to you, the reader. Thank you for granting us this extraordinary opportunity.


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IntroductionIntroductionCongratulations! You have opened an incredible resource, packed with great ideas that will enhance your entrepreneurial experience in ways you cannot yet imagine. You are about to discover how to strengthen and develop your business skills to ensure that your business is profitable, sustainable and thriving.

Your success comes as the result of more than talent, commitment and hard work. Your success will also be determined by how well you manage all aspects of your business. When you are an entrepreneur, you are responsible for everything—marketing, product development, customer service, sales and networking. Every success and setback you experience will come from the decisions you make. Your success as an entrepreneur depends on how productively and effectively you run your business and how well you communicate and cultivate customer relationships and strategic alliances.

We know you want to be the absolute best entrepreneur you can be. With this book, you will quickly learn how successful entrepreneurs get the very best results. As top experts in each of our respective specialties, we have joined to give you the most powerful information and strategies available.

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Each of us has seen how even small changes can transform and uplift a business. Here is just a sample of the benefits you will find inside to transform yours:

•Communicateyourpersonalbrandandmakeitpartofeverythingyou do.

•Overcomesetbacksandemergestrongerthanbefore.•Getcontroloveryourtime,paperworkandemail.•MaximizethesocialnetworksandtheInternettogrowyourbusiness.•Andmuchmore!

All the entrepreneurs you will meet in this book want you to succeed. We have outlined for you our top strategies and included the most expert advice we have to advance your success.

To get the most out of Entrepreneur Extraordinaire, we recommend you read it once, cover to cover, then go back and follow the advice that applies to you in the chapters most relevant to your current situation. Every improvement you make will increase your confidence and effectiveness and positively affect how others respond to your business.

Just learning what to do will not create transformation. Take action and apply the strategies, tips and tactics we share in these pages, and you will reap many rewards. With our knowledge and your action, we are confident that, like our thousands of satisfied clients, you too will benefit from Entrepreneur Extraordinaire.

To your unlimited success!


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Your business has a mind of its own. Would you like to know what it has to say?

Successful business people know that using their intuition provides a powerful business advantage. In today’s fast-paced, competitive and often economically challenged business climate, it is important to utilize all the resources at your disposal. Even people who use intuition in their personal life forget to apply it to business in a practical way. Unfortunately, schools and universities rarely provide training on this topic, especially as it relates to business.

Intuition is a valuable and often untapped business resource you can access for expanded creativity, clarity, focus, confidence and more. You can use it to gain a clearer vision, for specific strategies to monetize your ideas and as a roadmap for the quickest path to where you want to be in business.

Intuition–Your Valuable Resource for Immediate Answers for Tangible Business Re$ults

Intuition–Your Valuable Resource for Immediate Answers for Tangible Business Re$ults

By Susan Rueppel, PhD

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In several interviews, Oprah Winfrey has stated that two things have made her most successful in business—intuition and timing. For all the major moves in her life, including starting her own television network, she taps into and trusts her intuition and, most importantly, she acts on it. She takes in all the information she can gather and then goes with her gut.

“Learning to trust your instincts, using your intuitive sense of what’s best for you, is paramount for any lasting success. I’ve

trusted the still, small voice of intuition my entire life. And the only time I’ve made mistakes is when I didn’t listen.”

—Oprah Winfrey, African American media mogul, producer and philanthropist

What is Intuition?Understanding what intuition is helps us tap into it easier. What if you could learn to tune in and know everything about your business?

In business, intuition is often referred to by names such as “gut instinct,” “hunch,” “going with your gut,” a “hit” and so on. According to Webster’s Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language Deluxe Edition published by Gramercy Books in 1996, intuition is the “direct perception of truth, fact, etc., independent of any reasoning process,” “a keen and quick insight” and “pure, untaught, non inferential knowledge.”

My concept of “business intuition” is using intuition to tap into the truth about business.

Intuition can provide important data that can help with decision making, especially when you have too much data, conflicting data or not enough data. It also helps “connect the dots” in new ways. You

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can use it as a compass to help you get from where you are to where you want to be in business.

My client, Chris, was considering leaving her corporate job and expanding the business left to her by her father. She wanted to confirm if it was the right move for her and, if so, how to make the transition. Over several intuitive consultations, she gained inspiration, a clearer vision and focus. The insights included an expanded market niche as well as product delivery and partnership potentials. She now has specific, practical and prioritized steps that have her feeling less overwhelmed and more confident about where she is going with the business and how to get there.

People often ask if intuition is a “gift” that only some people are born with. The answer is that we are all born intuitive—sometimes we just forget. In some cases, society conditions it out of us if, as young children, we share intuitive insights that are received with skepticism or even fear. In this environment, we decide that it is not acceptable or safe to be intuitive, and we subsequently often bury or ignore the intuitive messages we receive.

Intuition is not the exclusive domain of women. Men have an equal ability to develop and utilize their intuition, although because of our societal conditioning, men often refer to intuition by other names such as “gut instinct” or “shooting from the hip.” Highly successful businesspeople, such as Jack Canfield, Tom Peters and Bill Gates acknowledge using intuition as a key to their success. Many more recent business books also advocate combining logic and intuition for the most optimal vision, strategy and decisions.

Frank came to me looking for ways he could market his wellness products more effectively to help more people be healthier and increase his income. By tuning into his business intuitively, I

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identified additional market niches, provided clarity around what his customers are looking for and ways to differentiate himself in his field. Specific strategies included creative methods to help customers select the optimal products for their situation, ways to increase repeat business, insights on marketing approach and materials, and partnership profile potential. Frank says that he received ideas for potential market segments he had not thought of and for marketing tools and methods to augment what he had previously done. He said he felt as if he had another partner on board to look at additional ways he might be able to market. This helped him get outside of his own head—that it is like having another pair of eyes.

In business, the focus is predominantly on the left-brain activities of the five physical senses and logic. By incorporating your right-brain intuition, you can become more of a whole-brain thinker, creator and problem solver. All it takes is focused awareness and some practice to access, develop and expand your intuition. Often, we need to pay closer attention to notice and understand the message.

The Intuitive SensesWe are all born six-sensory beings with sight, hearing, touch, taste, smell and intuition. We receive intuitive input constantly. We often forget to pay attention to it, acknowledge it and validate the information we receive.

Intuition is meant to augment our five physical senses, not replace them. Intuition is called also “ESP” or “extrasensory perception” because it provides additional perception for collecting data.

The Four Primary Intuitive Senses. The four primary intuitive senses are extensions of our physical senses and knowing. See the diagram on page 46.

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•Clairvoyance or clear seeing. This typically appears as images, symbols, pictures or as full motion video as seen with the “inner eyes.” People are most familiar with this form of intuition. To engage this intuitive sense, close your eyes and imagine a screen in front of you. This is your intuition screen. Pose questions and ask that you be shown the answers.

•Clairaudience or clear hearing. This is hearing with your “inner ear.” It can include hearing words, phrases, sentences, full conversations or even music or songs.

• Clairsentience or clear feeling. This is when you feel information in your own physical body. Have you ever been around a friend or loved one and suddenly felt discomfort in your body, only to find out they had the same feelings? It refers to being empathic or sensitive to others’ thoughts, feelings or emotions. Remember, when it is someone else’s discomfort, be aware of whatever they are feeling in their physical body, then let go of the physical distress.

•Claircognizance or clear knowing. This occurs when information just “drops in” and you know it while not knowing how you know it. For example, have you ever heard the phone ring and somehow you knew who was calling before you answered, even though the call was not planned? This is how mothers often know to check on their children for no logical reason.

There are two additional intuitive senses people are often not aware of that are extensions of our physical senses: clairalience or clear smelling and clairgustance or clear tasting.

Do you ever smell a particular perfume right before you run into someone who usually wears it and before they actually enter the room? Some people sense a metallic taste when they are around chemicals, such as cleaning products or pesticides even if they are not physically aware of their presence. In business, you may have heard someone say a person or situation “left a bad taste in my mouth.”

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Using only your physical senses and logic is like seeing the world in black and white. When you add your intuitive senses, it is like seeing the world in Technicolor® and with 3-D® glasses. We all have the ability to develop all our intuitive senses. However, your highest intuitive sense often corresponds to your highest learning mode. If you are a visual learner, clairvoyance may be easiest to recognize and expand. If you are an auditory learner, clairaudience may be easiest. If you are a kinesthetic learner, clairsentience may be easiest.

Below is a diagram of the intuitive senses:

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Using Intuition for Business DecisionsAnyone can benefit from more consciously engaging their intuition in business.

•YouarethinkingaboutleavingcorporateAmericaandarenotsurewhat type of work to do or what type of business to start.

•Youarejuststartingabusinessandwanttoknowthebestuseofyour time and resources to launch as quickly and easily as possible.

•You have been in business for years and want to expand yourproducts, services, locations and so on.

•Youwanttoresolvechallengesyouarestrugglingwith.•Youarea“serial-preneur”or“multi-preneur”withseveralbusiness

endeavors and want to get clarity and focus on which of your ideas have the most revenue-generating potential.

•Youareacorporateexecutivewhowantsaclearervisionforyourorganization to take into your annual strategic planning process.

•Youhavepeopleorprojects thatarestruggling,andyouwant toknow why and how to remedy the situation.

In general, intuition can be used in business to gain clarity, make optimal decisions quicker and easier and solve problems. The results are eliminating overwhelm, gaining confidence and a clear path to action. Here are examples of some specific areas of business that can benefit from engaging your intuition:

•Visionandmissionalignmentandclarity•Businessplandevelopmentincludingstrategyandtactics•Marketnichepotential•Knowingwhatyourprospectsorclientswant•Productsandservicespotentialincludingpackaging•Marketing,salesanddistributionopportunities•Staff,virtualassistantorreferralpartnerselection•Prioritizingyourtimeandresources

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Clients realize benefits as well. You will discover that when you engage intuition in your business, your clients also benefit from products and services that are in greater alignment with their needs.

As a “multi-preneur” with three very different businesses, Tacye is regularly challenged with how to grow each of her businesses without getting overwhelmed. Working together, she has received prioritized intuitive insights about what her prospects and clients in each business are looking for and detailed, practical marketing and delivery methods to monetize her ideas. She has also gained specifics on systems to put in place to make her processes easy to replicate as her business grows. Just as valuable as the clearer vision and strategies, she now knows how to fan her own inner flame to stay in balance and not get overwhelmed.

Tacye freely admits that she has a propensity to get distracted by what she calls “bright shiny objects” that can range from classes to partnership opportunities. She now uses her newly acquired intuitive skills to focus and determine if an opportunity she is considering will advance her business or is a “bright shiny object.” This has saved her lots of time and money, as well as kept her focused on revenue-generating business priorities.

People often ask how to tell if ideas are from their mind or their intuition. One way to tell is that intuition comes quickly. You don’t have to analyze things to receive intuitive insights. How you feel about the information is also an indicator. Feeling enthusiastic and energized is a sign it is your intuition. Feeling bored, drained or anxious is a sign that it coming from your mind.

Using Intuition to Select the Best Support and PartnersIf you regularly check in for intuitive support when you need to hire a virtual assistant, technical support staff, web site designer and so on,

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your intuition will help you determine the best fit for collaboration and referral partners. You still need to check background and expertise and then go with your intuition for the best fit for your business needs.

When her administrative assistant quit, Amanda needed to replace her quickly. She came to me with a list of eight applicants she had identified. Based on a description of the position she wanted to fill and only the first names of the applicants, I tuned in intuitively to each of the names in turn and determined their background, expertise, work ethic, personality type and who was the best fit for the job. We narrowed it down to the top two candidates who would be good fits for Amanda. She tells people how spending one hour together saved her $3,000 in the time she would have spent interviewing all eight applicants. This was time she freed for billable work. Amanda and her new administrative assistant are both thrilled with the fit.

Intuitive Tips for Powerful ResultsRemember that information and answers are around you all the time. Pay closer attention to notice and understand the messages. Spend a few minutes a day asking questions that will reveal the answers you are looking for and remember to wait for the answers in all forms in which they come.

What are you seeing with your inner eyes? What are you hearing with your inner ears? What are you feeling in your body? What are you “just knowing”? These are all intuitive ways to receive insights and answers.

•Focus. When expanding your ability to consciously engage your intuition in business, it helps to be quiet and uninterrupted, so you can focus. Relax, take a few deep breaths, close your eyes, release all distractions and center your attention on your question or topic.

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•Ask. Be clear about what you are asking and state it in the positive. Ask questions that will allow you to gain practical insights that are actionable in business. Some examples include: What am I to know that will help me with ___ (fill in the blank)? What is holding my business/project back and how can I resolve it? What do my prospects/clients want from me? What is the best approach for ___? What is my greatest revenue-producing opportunity?

•Pay Attention. Wait for the answer! And remember that it comes in various forms using the six intuitive senses.

•Act. Take action on the intuitive answers you receive. When you acknowledge, validate and act on your intuition, it expands.

Your intuition is like a muscle—the more you exercise it, the stronger it becomes. Besides intentionally taking a few minutes a day for this intuitive query process, there are other times when you are naturally more relaxed and where it is easier to notice answers.

One is in the fully relaxed state between sleep and opening your eyes. When you first awaken, take a moment before you jump out of bed, keep your eyes closed and notice what you notice.

Your dreams are also a great way to receive insights and answers.

Any activity associated with water, such as showering, bathing, being around water and drinking it, helps heighten your intuition. Consider keeping a notebook next to your bed or in the bathroom to record your intuitive insights while they are fresh.

Intuitions also often come while driving, so consider keeping a small digital recorder in your glove compartment for easily and safely capturing them.

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It may be easier when you are learning to engage your intuition to experiment or work with a friend, colleague or professional intuitive. It can help to get intuitive insights from someone who is not attached to the outcome and who can help you see the forest and the trees. When working with someone, keep your eyes closed or averted since eye contact engages the left-brain thinking mind and can draw you away from your right-brain intuition. Be sure to agree to confidentiality with your partner.

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma—which is living with the results

of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important,

have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to

become. Everything else is secondary.”—Steve Jobs, American inventor and entrepreneur,

co-founder of Apple Inc.®

Consider keeping an intuition journal to keep track of when you use your intuition to benefit your business. By tapping into your intuition, you will gain clarity, confidence and courage. Your business already knows what it truly wants to become. Learn to tune in with your intuition and let it tell you, so you can be clear and take focused action with what you discover.

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Susan Rueppel, PhDFounder, Owner, Business IntuitiveChief Intuition Officer™Immediate Answers for Tangible Re$ults in Business (916) 444-1112susan@chiefintuitionofficer.comwww.chiefintuitionofficer.com

Susan Rueppel, PhD, is an internationally known business intuition expert, speaker, author and trainer. Her gift is her ability to artfully blend over fifteen years as a professional intuitive with her business acumen from twenty-plus years in corporate America designing and implementing information technology solutions. As a business intuitive, she works with entrepreneurs, business owners and corporate professionals who desire to create or grow their businesses quicker and easier. Her clients call her a “combination intuitive search engine and GPS,” providing immediate answers and a roadmap with a clearer vision, specific strategies and prioritized path forward. In her consultations, training and mentoring with thousands of clients, she makes intuition practical and accessible in all areas of business, wellness and balance.

Whether speaking on intuition in business or intuition in sales, Susan’s lively and engaging presentation style inspires people to recognize and illuminate their personal and professional genius.

Susan’s vision is to help generate a soul-based business revolution by inspiring entrepreneurial professionals to use intuition as a valuable business resource in order to serve more people doing what they love and creating an abundant income. Susan lives in the Sacramento, California, area.

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Entrepreneur Extraordinaire · You recognize the power of knowing what to do, as well as how and when to do it in order to be wildly successful. We salute you for wanting more knowledge